Eleven years ago, in response to my tutor's unexplained declaration that he was withdrawing his supervision of my research, I wrote that "in the circumstances, I feel that I have no other option but to seek to complete my research elsewhere". Was this truly a resignation? Within a week my registration was terminated and, untutored, I entered into the void of university complaints' procedures and the archaic realm of the university visitorial system

Sadly, or heroically, I am still exhausting all internal procedures: reviews of board of studies' decisions, appeals to the board of studies, complaints of maladministration, a submission of a grievance, complaints about the administration of the university's grievance procedure, obtaining a barrister's opinion, a re-submission of a grievance, a petition to the visitor, sitting in grievance committee hearings, investigations into the university administration's handling of the grievance's procedure and petitions to the visitor for the release of documentation again, again and again.

The significance of these time-wasting, Alice in Wonderland procedures can easily be missed - 11 years have passed in the pursuit of redress for a dispute that survives as a distant memory. In all probability, there is no-one left at Bath University who had any personal involvement in the circumstances that led to the dispute. The slowest legal proceedings would appear fast-track by comparison.

The case highlights the profound problems that still face students wishing to complain about their treatment at university. As the visitor, which in the case of Bath University means the Queen represented by the Lord Chancellor, must address disputes in old universities, there is no chance of diverting the case to a court of law and having the case heard. And, the fact that the operation of university visitors is incompatible with the Human Rights Act, does not seem to hasten the end of a system which was introduced to combat heresy and persists today with medieval efficiency.

"What do you want out of it?" is a question I never seem to answer to anyone's satisfaction. Meant kindly, this question is usually raised after a trawl through the chaos of university complaints' procedures and demonstrates that straightforward and unambiguous solutions to the problems that threaten my career and my future, are simply no longer available.

An acknowledgement that I have rights that the university respect would be a welcome start, followed by more honesty and openness about academic decision-making. Finally, if it is not asking too much, I'd like to ensure the inadequacy of the complaints procedure I sought to use at the University of Bath, and the parallel inadequacy of the visitor system, is made transparent and understandable.

The system will change only through lobbying for improvement and/or by shaming those institutions responsible for perpetuating inadequate, archaic and unfair procedures.

Universities consistently restrict access to information and records that might help in cases where complaints are made, even when constitutionally obliged to disclose the appropriate records. Years can be wasted on fruitless evidence gathering.

If university leaders cannot lead on creating a culture which values and supports freedom of information, is it really surprising that public life in Britain remains stunted and stultified by secrets, lies and misinformation?

Reforms are now being discussed. But will they even rectify the failure of the higher education complaints' procedures to comply with the standards demanded under the Human Rights Act?

A recent consultation by UniversitiesUK proposes an arrangement which will enable student complaints to be reviewed independently "when all internal complaints procedures have been exhausted". They do not say, however, whether the visitorial system is part of an internal complaints procedure for universities with an appointed visitor. It also remains unclear whether students will have to pursue a complaint through the visitor before submitting it to independent review.